Google "do no evil" or evil empire of blackbox scam artists ?

I own GOOG, been in and out since late 06 making a bit of money eventually got caught in this nasty selloff. I was stunned by the decline that turned a large profit into an equally large loss. As many I thought the stock was invulnerable , the company solid and technicals didn't alert me to anything . I held on as I suspected it was a shakeout, the stock came back.

In the meantime, I came to know the company using their advertising service. I wouldn't have known anything about Google from the press and Wall Street research
I would swear these guys are running a scam operation.

I knew of course about the click fraud issue estimated at 20% of total clicks.
As a customer, Google system looks like a black box, the way clicks are priced is insane, costs go up 200-300% from one day to the next without explanation, no transparency whatsoever unlike what the CEO is spinning on CNBC right now . Apparently even experienced users are puzzled by Google's pricing. To me you would have to be a fool to trust these guys with most of your advertising dollars . I didn't like the company before because
of its threats to privacy now I hate them.

But again , I may just be pissed off because of my personal experience and none of what is going on should be seen as fishy or even potentially illegal and they are just running a cash machine, a cash machine that I still would call a -legitimate- ripoff operation . I still think they 'll end up pissing off a lot of customers the Ebay way.

As for the stock, it could well go much higher before going the way of former highflyers.

This page is a summary of services and tools provided by Google Inc.. For other uses, see Google (disambiguation).
This list of Google products includes all major desktop, mobile and online products released or acquired by Google Inc.. They are either a gold release, in beta development, or part of the Google Labs initiative. This list also includes previous products, that have either been merged, discarded or renamed. Features of products, such as Web Search features, are not listed.

[edit] Online mobile products
These products can be accessed through a browser on a mobile device or a standard desktop web browser such as Firefox.

Blogger Mobile [21]
Only available on some US networks. Allows you to post to your Blogger blog from a mobile device.
Calendar [22]
Read a list of all Google Calendar events from a mobile device. There is also the option to quickly add events to your personal calendar.
Gmail [23]
Access a Gmail account from a mobile device using a standard mobile web browser. Alternatively, Google provides a specific mobile application to access and download Gmail messages quicker.
News [24]
Access Google News on a mobile device using a simpler interface compared to the full online application.
Google Mobilizer[25]
Makes any web page mobile-friendly.
iGoogle [26]
Simple version of iGoogle - you must visit the information page to choose which modules to display on your personal mobile version as not all modules are compatible.
Product Search [27]
Updated version of the previous Froogle Mobile
Reader [28]
View Google Reader on a mobile device.
Mobile search [29]
Search web pages, images, local listings and mobile-specific web pages through the Google search engine. If a webpage is not tailored for a mobile device Google will provide a simple text version of the webpage generated using an algorithm.
Picasa Web Albums [30]
Lets you view photo albums that you have stored online.
Google Notebook [31]
View and add notes to your Google Notebook

[edit] Downloadable mobile products
These products must be downloaded and run from a mobile device.

Gmail mobile [32]
A downloadable application that has many advantages over accessing Gmail through a web interface on a mobile such as the ability to interact with Gmail features including labels and archiving. Requires a properly configured Java Virtual Machine, which is not available by default on some platforms (such as Palm's Treo).
Maps Mobile [33]
Mobile application for viewing maps on a mobile device. Unlike other Mobile Google products, mobile Maps is available in non-Java versions, avoiding the difficulties with getting a Java Runtime Environment installed and properly configured on the mobile device. Maps mobile is currently available in versions for BlackBerry devices, Windows Mobile and Palm OS smartphones. Version 2.0 comes with a beta version of Google's "My Location" technology, which uses cell tower ID information to provide users with their approximate location through triangulation. My Location technology allows users without GPS-enabled mobile phones to share in some of the convenience of location information. Although often not as accurate as true GPS, some added benefits locating this way are faster location estimates, coverage inside of buildings and less battery drain compared to mobile phones with GPS chips. [34]
YouTube [35]
A downloadable application for viewing YouTube videos on selected devices (see [36]).
Google Talk (BlackBerry Exclusive) [37]
A Mobile application to stay connected your contacts while you're away from your computer. The Google Talk application for BlackBerry smartphones, is offered by BlackBerry. Just browse to http://www.blackberry.com/GoogleTalk (from your blackberry browser) to download the free application. Google Talk on the BlackBerry smartphone uses the same familiar interface for your Google Apps contact list, so you can quickly see who's online and instant message with them from anywhere (in real time). This application is free, but carrier charges may apply. (If you have a data plan with your carrier, this is sufficient, Google Talk only uses data.)
Google Sync (BlackBerry Exclusive) [38]
Synchronizes a BlackBerry calendar with multiple Google calendars using a Google Account.
Mobile Updater (BlackBerry Exclusive) [39]
Keeps all Google mobile products up-to-date. Also allows installation or uninstallation of these products.

[edit] Web products
These products must be accessed via a Web browser.

[edit] Advertising
AdSense [40]
Advertisement program for Website owners. Adverts generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-ads-displayed basis, and are adverts shown are from AdWords users, depending on which adverts are relevant.
AdWords [41]
Google's flagship advertising product, and main source of revenue. AdWords offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads.
AdWords Website Optimizer [42]
Integrated AdWords tool for testing different website content, in order to gain to the most successful advertising campaigns.

I watched a talk that buffet did (you can probably google it) where he described that he looked for companies that have a strong "mote" which was an analogy for the perception of a company and what it symbolizes in peoples minds. The fact that in this very post I use the phrase "google it" is a statment of how strong the mote of google is and that cannot be easily destroyed. Plus "google it" sounds much better than "yahoo it".